diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 258f751..226a772 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "schmfy"
-version = "0.1.0"
+version = "0.1.1"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
 description = "Schmfication library"
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 17620d3..4ce5b0e 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@ pub fn schmfy(source: String) -> String {
         return source;
     }
 
+    if source.len() == 0 {
+        return source;
+    }
+
+    // can't be empty
+    if !source.chars().next().unwrap().is_alphabetic() {
+        return source;
+    }
+
     // if source is subsite (e.g. news/fsr), schmfy all parts separately
     if source.contains('/') {
         return source